Arizona weekly enterprise., 1887-09-17

dfer.
 ''Hardimont," :" responded the duke, sup pressing his title and the prefix to his name. "And you2''
 "Jean Victor. have only recently joined the company-I've just left the ambu- lance-I was wounded at Chatillon. An, it was very pleasant in the ambulance; the nurse gives one such good horse flesh soup. But had only a scratch, and the major gave me my discharge. So much the worse for ne, for shall now begin to suffer from hunger as before. For, whether you choose to believe 1t or not, such as you see me have been hungry all my life.''
 This statement, made to vofuptuary who, a moment since, had been remem- bering with regret the cuisine of the Cafe Anglais, was 8 terrible one, and the Duke de Hardimont looked at his companion with an astonishment not unmixed with terror. The soldier smiled sorrowfully, disclosing to view his teeth that resem- bled those of a wolf-the teeth of man who suffered from hunger habitually-and whose whiteness contrasted strongly with his clay colored complexion. Then, as if experiencing that the duke was waiting for some further disclosure:
 Stay" he said, ceasing abruptly to ad- dress his companion in the second person, divining doubtless that he was a rch and happy man. "Stay, let us walk little up and down the road to warm our feet, and will tell you things such as, dare say, you have never heard before. My name is Jean Victor-Jean Victor, and nothing more, for am founding, and my only happy recollections are those of my early childhood at the asylum. The bed clothes on our little beds in the dormitory were always clean and white; we played in a garden under the shade of great trees, there was 8 good sister there, young and pale as wax-she was dying of consump- tion-whose favorite was, and at whose side preferred walking up and down to playing with the other children, for she
 would draw me to her, and lay her thin hot hand on my forehead. But as soon as I was 12 years old, and had taken my first communion, there was nothing then but
 misery The directors apprenticed me to a chair mender of the Faubourg St. l Jacques. This is not trade, you under stand; it is impossible to gain one's living at it, so that, for the most part, the master could entice only the boys of the Blind Boys asylum to become his apprentices. Then it was that I | first began to suffer from hunger. The master and mistress-two elderly Limou- siaps, who were both afterward murdered were terrible misers, and the bread, of | which they gave us little piece at every | meal, was kept under lock and key the
 rest of the time. And in the evening at l supper you should have seen the mistress | in her black cap, heaving a sigh at every | glance she stole into the soup tureen when | she gave us our soup. The two other ap- | prentices, the Blind Boys" were less unhappy than !, she did not give them | any more than she gave me, but at least | they could not see, as I did, her look of reproach xwhep she handed them their 1 plates And the misfortune was that I 1 had always had 6 good appetite. xs- .l...s any fault of mine? ask. I passed three years of this apprenticeship = always
 hungry. Three years One could learn | the business in a month, but the directors could not know everything, and did not | suspect that the boys were imposed upon. 1 An, you were surprised just now to see
 me take the bread up out of the muds
 Well, l am accustomed to that, l
 have picked up cruSts out of the
 dirt, and when they were too drJ to eat
 left them to soak all night in my wash
 basin. There were sometimes wind falls,
 too-one must be just-the bits of bread,
 nibbled at the end, that the school boys
 would take from their lunch baskets and
 throw on the pavement, as they came out
 of school. 1 tried to take that direction
 as often as could in doing my errands.
 And then, when the apprenticeship was
 over, it was trade, as I have said that
 would not feed man. An, tried many
 other things in turn; had @ heart for
 work, hadl I waited on the masons;
 was a shop boy, furniture polisher, and
 don't know what besides. Bah! now,
 there was no work to be had; again l lost
 my place. In short never had enough
 to eat to satisfy me. Ahi tonnerre! what
 rage have sometimes been in, passing
 by a bakers shopl Happily for me, al
 such moments 1 always called to mind tht
 kind sister of the asylum, who so ofter
 advised me to be good, and would fanc!
 1 felt the heat of her little hand on m!
 forehead. At last, at IS years of age,
 enlisted. You know as we'll as I do tha
 the soldier has barely sufficient for hi
 wants And now-it almost makes on
 laugh-the siege and the famine You SCI
 1 spoke the truth when told you that had been always, always hungryp'
 The young duke had good heart, an,
 on hearing this terrible plaint uttered b, { a man like himself, by a soldier who's uniform made him his equal, he felt pro
 foundly moved. It was even fortunat for his reputation for sangfroid as dandy that the evening wind dried before the
 fell, two tears which had gathered in hi eyes.
 , "Jean Victor" he said, ceasing, in hi turn, by delicate instinct, to address tn , founding in the second person, ''if yo , and should survive this terrible war, W , shall see each other again, and hope be of service to you. But for the present as the only baker at the advanced posts ,, the corporal in ordinary, and as my ratio of bread is twice too large for my apps ', tite, which is not a very robust one, it agreed, is it not, we will share it like goo 7 comradesY'
 The handgrasp the two young men gay each other was warm and close, and, 6 2 they were worn out by the guard duty an by night watches, they re-entered the pal Tor of the inn, where dozen soldiers wei lying on heap of straw on the floor, ana :, throwing themselves down, side by sid z they were soon fast asleep.
 Toward midnight Jean Victor awok i probably through hunger. The wind ha Q swept away the clouds from the face | the heavens, and moonbeanl, penetratin r the room through hole in the roof, : luminated the charming blonde head { the young duke, who looked like a sleel 2 ing Endymion. Still under the infuent . of the feeling aroused in his breast by u kindness of his comrade, Jean Victor WI
 regarding him with naive admiration
 when the sergeant of the platoon opene